Norwegian Dream-Baltic Capitals 2007
Written: Oct 20 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Everything! (friendly staff, free-style system, friendly relaxed atmosphere, games, itinerary,...
Cons: Nothing major. Not enough time in ports, over-priced shore excursions
The Bottom Line: Recommend this trip to all types. It was wonderful!
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| chelley1980's Full Review: Norwegian Dream |
I am shocked to see so many negative reviews about NCL. My husband and I sailed on the 12-day Baltic Capitals cruise on the Norwegian Dream this past July/end of August (2007) and had a wonderful experience, recommend NCL to everyone and plan to remain faithful to this company. In fact, we even booked our next cruise for next summer, while we were still on board.
Just to give you an insight to my point-of view… let me explain that I am 27 and my husband is 31. We are the “rock and roll” type and are not posh people. We are both very well-traveled and are used to traveling independently. We chose to go on a cruise because we wanted to try something a bit more luxurious than our usual budget European city breaks. We chose this particular cruise because of NCL’s good reputation, the free-style experience, and of course for the excellent itinerary.
This was my husband’s first cruise, but I had been on 4 previous ones (3 on Holland America, and 1 on Carnival).
I have broken-down the review into separate categories:
Reservations:
This is the only area I would call inadequate. I dealt with both the UK and the US reservations department who overall did not seem very familiar with the product. (They did not know how far the ports were from where the ships docked and were unsure of the Russian visa policy). Also, my documents packet was not very professional in appearance. Still, once I sailed this was all forgotten.
Embarkation/debarkation:
Compared to the other cruise lines I have traveled with, this was the best experience I have ever had in this capacity. Both procedures went smoothly. We felt very welcomed at embarkation by the organized staff, who also provided us with juice, coffee, and cake during the short wait to check-in and board.
Stateroom:
Our room was quite spacious for a stateroom. There was plenty of closet/drawer space, a double bed, and a curtain between a sitting area which had a couch, a chair and a table. The bathroom was tiny and had a stand-up shower that unfortunately flowed all over the entire floor. In comparison to other ships I have been on, the bathroom was less than par. However, it did not warrant any complaint. We had a free upgrade to an obstructed ocean-view, which means that a part of the ship blocks part of the window. This did not bother us in the least. I do not insist on having an ocean view when I cruise, but it was quite nice on this particular itinerary to have a window to look out of considering how many other ships you get to pass by on the Baltic.
Food/ Restaurants:
Overall, there was a nice variety of food and it was all quite good. Do not expect the gourmet experience you get on Holland America… but again… absolutely no complaints!
The following are your options for dining on-board:
There are two fancy restaurants on-board (Le Bistro and The Tratoria). We never went to them because they required a reservation, formal attire, and worst of all… a $15 cover charge per person. We heard from other passengers that reservations had to be made very far in advance and that they never changed the menu at Le Bistro throughout the entire trip.
Terraces:
This was the main dining room, open to all. You could go there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and be served a sit-down meal. They expect you to dress “decently” (not formally.. but no flip-flops, sneakers, grubby t-shirts, etc…). We never ate here either as there was always a line to get in and they basically served the same exact food in the casual Sports Bar.
The Sports Bar:
We ate breakfast and dinner here and every day.
The Sports Bar served food almost 24-hours a day. They had breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night light meals available all night long. There were only about 2-3 hours in a whole 24 hour period where there was no food available here. It is basically a casual buffet. There was no dress code. You could wear your bathing suit in from the pool if you wanted. The Sports Bar was very popular so sometimes it was a bit too crowded. You often had to share tables with other passengers.
Breakfast here consisted of everything you could think of (eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, French toast, pastries, cereals, juice, fresh fruit, etc…). Note: there was also an omelet bar, but they weren’t very good….
Lunch and dinner consisted of traditional and international dishes with plenty of interesting salads, sides, and desserts. My favorites were the wienerschnitzel, spinach spring rolls, and the caramel cake. They also had a pasta bar, where a cook would make a fresh pasta mix to your liking.
At night from about 10pm-4am they had things like: hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, pasta, sandwiches, and cakes available.
Pizzeria
I’m not sure why they gave it this name. This is basically a pool-side grill that does serve pizza, but also burgers, dogs, (excellent) bratwurst, meatballs, salad, and cake. This was nice for lunch as the food in the Sports Bar was more “dinner” food as opposed to burgers and dogs, which I usually prefer for lunch when sitting by the pool.
Barbecue
Whenever there was a day at sea and the weather was nice, they opened up a large barbecue outside on the main deck. They served the same grills as the pool-side Pizzeria, and also a couple of specialty grills each time (i.e. ribs, Italian sausage, pasta).
Ice cream parlor
There was an ice cream stand at pool-side. They offered about 3 flavors a day, but often ran out of the most popular ones.
Room Service
Room service is available 24 hours a day. It includes simple things like burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, blts, club sandwiches. For a fee you can order something more fancy like a shrimp platter.
Midnight Buffet
This is one typical cruise feature missing from NCL. Still… who actually has room in the middle of the night on a cruise after gorging yourself all day? If you were hungry late at night, the Sports Bar and room service had food available. They did have the traditional chocolate buffet one night, but I can not comment as we missed it because we were too exhausted to stay up late that night.
Other facilities:
There were several different bars and lounges on the ship (see entertainment heading). The observation bar was the biggest and on the top deck offering a magnificent view out of the ship (I can’t remember if it was the bow or stern end). Drinks were fairly expensive, but no more so than you would expect.
There was a coffee/espresso/cappuccino bar, that charged for drinks.
There were 2 swimming pools (both on the small side), 2 Jacuzzis, and a large wet bar, which ended-up being monopolized by the children on board and hence being accepted as a kiddy pool (no one seemed to mind though).
There was a library/Internet café, which had a decent selection of books and board games.
There was a gym (never used it… can’t comment), a couple of shuffleboard games, and a basketball court. Deck 7 was designated as a walking/jogging track.
Lastly, to my recollection there was quite naturally a health spa, a few duty free shops, and of course a casino.
Staff:
The staff members were fantastic. On the other ships I have been on, the staff have not spoken English fluently. All the staff on this ship spoke fantastic English and were exceptionally friendly and gave good service. The entertainment staff were also very good. I think that the fact that the employees were so good, really added to my overall enjoyment and happiness with NCL.
I would also like to mention that when I lost my bank card in Tallin, the staff allowed me to phone my bank free of charge to cancel my card. The customer care was just wonderful.
Entertainment:
There was a good range of entertainment and activities on board. We were big fans of daily trivia and progressive trivia (which was a cumulative competitive trivia that ran through-out the entire cruise… and our team won!) They also had games like The Weakest Link, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and “The Not-So- Newlywed Show” (which we also won!!!). They also had golf putting competitions, pool Olympics, lectures, work-shops, etc…
There was also at least one live show every night. We only attended the comedy ones put on by the cruise staff and the few stand-up comedy shows. This cruise even featured a British comedian who was once on the Benny Hill Show. He was very good.
Clientele:
I was expecting to be the youngest on the ship. This length of cruise and itinerary is not cheap and usually caters to a senior citizen crowd (so I thought). Boy was I wrong! The age range of the passengers was wonderfully spread-out! There were people of all ages. I would say that the majority consisted of couples in their late 50’s-early 60’s and families either with young children and/or teenagers. We were in the minority of young couples without children, but I never noticed that until just now. The mix of ages was nice as was the mix of nationalities on board. The majority of the passengers were American or British, with a nice amount of Canadians, French, Spaniards, Russians, and other mainly Europeans.
Itinerary:
The itinerary was wonderful, although as you will read in other reviews… some of the time in port was far too short.
Day 1: Depart Dover, England – The weather was too dreary to have a look at Dover. We live in London though (but are not English) so can go back any time we want. There is a castle there that I would be interested in seeing. I think almost everyone directly boarded the ship when they arrived at the port
Day 2: Cruise Kiel Canal- Unfortunately, this cruise in no longer taking this route. The reason being is that the Dream is the largest ship that can fit through the canal. Next season, they are going to use a newer mega-ship for this cruise in order to meet the high demand. (see end of review). Passing through the Kiel Canal was so much fun. All the locals along the canal come out to watch the ship pass by and wave. They even hold up friendly ‘Bon Voyage; signs. It is truly a wonderful site and experience.
Day 3: Warnemunde- This is a nice (but not spectacular) German sea-side town. There is a long strip along a canal with shops, bars, and restaurants. I believe there is also a beach near-by. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible that day (rain storms) so it was hard to enjoy being by the sea. We also took the train (on our own) to “historic” Rostock. This was just an average-looking German town (nothing impressive at all… unless you have never ever been anywhere in Europe) and I wouldn’t really say its worth the trip.
Day 4: At sea. The weather was pretty bad. We went through a storm, but it was fun! The next day, though.. the weather improved to at least 25 (80F) every day until of course we were in the North Sea heading back to England!
Day 5: Tallinn, Estonia- Tallin is a very small city and the centre is (as I recall) about a 30 min walk from the port (more or less). We went at it on our own and just had a walk around the old city centre and had lunch. The architecture is very pretty, but unfortunately as it was such a small city and we arrived on a week day, all we saw were NCL and other cruise ship passengers. It was like the whole city had been taken over by cruise tourists!
Still, it’s a pretty city and worth a visit.
Day 6: St. Petersburg, Russia- A very interesting yet eerie city. I won’t go into great detail on that (that’s a whole other review). Anyway, it was always my dream to visit Russia and I’d say it was well worth it. This is the only place we went on shore excursions (see ‘shore excursions’ heading).
We did two short half-day excursions each day. On day one in the morning, we did a boat ride on the Neva, where we saw many beautiful palaces along the river and a tour of the Church on the Spilled Blood (this is the famous onion-dome cathedral always shown in pictures). This was quite nice and I would recommend it if you chose to do a ˝ day excursion.
In the afternoon, we took an excursion to Catherine the Great’s Palace, which was a short drive from the city. This was not so enjoyable. Our guide was very brusque (not unusual for Russia) and we felt as though we were being dragged around on a school field trip. Unfortunately, it is not possible to see the palace on your own and if you want to see it and the famous amber room, you have to take this route. Anyway, the outside of the palace is beautiful, but the inside is just the same as any other palace in Europe.
Day 7: St. Petersburg, Russia
In the morning we went on a bus tour, which showed us highlights of the city and made 4 stops as I recall. The main stop was at the Cathedral of St. Peter & Paul, which is on a fortress island in the middle of the Neva River. Here we saw the tombs of the Romanov’s and Peter the Great. The bus also stopped outside the Upsala Cathedral, outside the Church on Spilled Blood where there is a souvenir market, and of course the mandatory gift shop.
In the afternoon we took a pleasant excursion to the garden’s of Peter the Great’s Palace (there was an option to do either the inside of the palace or the impressive gardens and fountains). We chose the gardens as we are spoiled from traveling so much and felt that “you have seen one palace, you have seen them all”. Anyway, the gardens were very nice, yet crowded and we had the same feeling of being schlepped around by a guide. At the end we took a hydrofoil back to the city centre, which was quite nice.
Day 8: Helsinki- A beautiful city, but quite small with not a lot of tourist attractions to see. We walked to the city centre, which was a scenic one-hour walk along the water. We had a nice day walking around the town, seeing the large cathedral, and having calamari at the market on the bay. Unfortunately, this was a short day or else I would have liked to have gone to the Suomenlinna fortress island. We also did not get to see the church in the rock, which other passengers who went on shore excursions got to see.
Day 9: Stockholm- WOW! What can I say? Stockholm in one of the nicest and most picturesque places I have ever visited. I expected Scandinavia to be quite stale and “IKEA-like” in conventional design, but I was mistaken. When you go to Stockholm make sure you leave the ship as early as possible. You definitely do not have enough time in this wonderful city. (We were late returning to the ship for 4:30). Be sure not to take the hop-on, hop-off city tour as it is a total rip-off. The city is relatively small and easy to navigate on your own if you are energetic enough. The first thing to do when you arrive is go to the wonderful Vasa Museum (this is the only thing open so early in the morning). Here you can see and learn all about life on the Vasa (an old Swedish ship). There are many other interesting museums in Stockholm that we did not have time to see. We spent the rest of the day, strolling around the streets, having Swedish meatballs for lunch, seeing the changing of the guard at the palace, and riding the roller coaster at the amusement park that is located right in the city centre.
One of the most beautiful parts of this cruise was the time we spent sailing away from Stockholm. Though, I was so saddened by leaving this wonderful port, the view of the archipelago that we got to sail though was amazing.
Day 10: At Sea
Day 11: Copenhagen
This is another amazing city, that unfortunately due to the time of arrival and departure is difficult to fully appreciate.
The ship arrived in Copenhagen early in the evening, which meant that everyone rushes to get off and go straight to Tivoli Gardens.(the famous amusement park… I think it is the oldest in the world or something like that… I could be wrong).
Here is some hints: do not book the tour of Tivoli Gardens. This is pointless. The day before arriving in Copenhagen the ship suddenly surprises the passengers by selling a transfer ticket to Tivoli. If you aren’t energetic, this is your best option.
We chose to walk to Tivoli. It took a solid hour walking briskly. However, I was happy with this decision because we passed through all the highlights of Copenhagen on our walk. (This included the palace and all the main squares, etc..). Anyone who took a coach will have missed out on all this.
Anyway, Tivoli Gardens is a must. It is open until 11 or midnight and is a great way to spend the evening.
Day 12: Copenhagen…
The ship departs Copenhagen around mid-day, which means you have to be back on the ship by 11 or 11:30. We were too wiped out from the late night the night before to bother to leave the ship. If you missed seeing Copenhagen the night before, because you took a coach to Tivoli, this is a good time to squeeze in a tour of the city highlights.
Day 13: At sea
Day 14: Return to Dover
A note about shore excursions:
As we are young, brave, and well-traveled, we found is completely unnecessary to take any shore excursions. The only place we did was Russia because it was mandatory unless you either hired a personal guide for a huge sum of money or went through a complicated and expensive visa process well in advance of the cruise.
I will say, that all shore excursions on any cruise including this one are a complete and utter rip-off. If you calculate how much it would cost to see the exact same things on your own without a tour, it costs a mere fraction of what they charge, not to mention the benefit of having your independence. For example, from Warnemunde there was a tour of Berlin offered. This cost over $300 per person. If you live in London, you can fly to Berlin and stay at least one night in a budget hotel for that price. They also offered an excursion for about $100 where all they do is put you on a train to Berlin so that you can explore on your own. There is no way that a train ticket from Warnemunde to Berlin and back costs anywhere near that much.
Anyway, unless you are going somewhere like Egypt or India (for example) on a cruise, I would recommend not purchasing shore excursions. If you book a shore excursion for every port it will equate to the price of another cruise fare.
Free-style experience:
The free-style dining and dress experience was perfect for us. I enjoy traditional dinner/dress-up cruises too, but there was something so much more relaxing and enjoyable about not being rushed in from the pool at 4 or 5 o’clock to start primping for dinner. The overall atmosphere was more relaxed. My husband and I are not really into the evening activities like the casino and disco, so being able to sit in a lounge in the evening doing day-time activities like playing cards in our day-time casual attire was fantastic!
A note about the ship:
I read some other reviews about this ship and saw some negative feedback about this ship being old and kitsch. I did not find this at all. This may be because I have only sailed on older ships. However, I do not see how the way something is decorated can affect your overall experience. The only thing I found odd about the ship was that the casino was not in the middle (i.e. you did not have to walk though the casino to get anywhere as is the ploy on most ships). This is because this ship is actually made up of two smaller ships that were fused together.
As far as the size of the ship ( approx 1750 passengers)… I think this is absolutely perfect. I prefer to be on a relatively smaller ship, where you can actually get to know your fellow passengers. It is a much friendlier experience this way, and I mentioned earlier, I think it is a shame that this itinerary is being replaced with a larger ship.
Overall:
Overall, I have to say that this was a wonderful experience. We loved NCL (especially for the free-style experience and friendly staff) and plan to remain loyal to them. We even booked a cruise with them for June/July 2008 to the Norwegian fjords! I can’t wait! Thanks NCL!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
chelley1980
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Member: Michelle
Location: Wroclaw, Poland
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Interests: Travel (visited 25+ countries), Heavy Metal, Comedy, Historical Fiction
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